Twitter losses grow to $132m

Social media darling Twitter reported a net loss of $132m for the first quarter of 2014, up considerably from the $27m loss for the same period last year. Revenues for the same period jumped over 119 per cent however, to $250m, versus $114m a year ago.

The company chalked up $126m of its loss to stock-based compensation expense, which is where stock options are used to reward employees, based on the idea that employees will work harder because they want the stock to rise.

Average Monthly Active Users (MAUs) were 255 million as of March 31, an increase of 25 per cent year-over-year. Of this, mobile MAUs reached 198 million, an increase of 31 per cent year-over-year.

This was also reflected in revenues, with advertising revenue totalling $226m, an increase of 125 per cent year-over-year, of which 80 per cent was mobile advertising revenue.

Twitter said it continued to improve its experience for new and existing users by enhancing push notifications, reducing the number of steps in the sign-up process for Android users, and allowing users to link their mobile address book with their Twitter accounts to find people they know on Twitter more quickly.

The company also launched improved tools for advertisers, allowing them to create tailored audiences from email lists and CRM databases, target TV conversations for Spanish-language television, and connect with users through Promoted Accounts in search.